Tippecanoe Valley High School To Re-Establish Student Newspaper
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
During the Tippecanoe Valley School Board meeting Monday night, journalism teacher and newspaper adviser Melanie Mason, along with some of her newspaper students, presented student media policies and what they’ve studied and learned.
The board will be asked to approve the student media policies at its Jan. 14 meeting. By mid-January to February, the first edition of the student newspaper is expected to be published online.
The student media policies include a mission statement, and cover editorial policy, the adviser, school board, unprotected speech, letters, online comments, anonymity, obituaries, sensitive issues, advertising, student discipline and code of conduct.
The name of the TVHS student newspaper is “The Runic Review.”
Student Josh Warren said the class has been spending the whole semester learning how to be reporters and how to be ethical reporters. The first two months were nothing but law and ethics. Some of the main things the class discussed, Warren said, were the seven deadly sins of journalism, which include burning a source, conflicts of interest and plagiarism.
Students also learned basic reporting skills, he said. They are up to reporting one brief a week, but are working on writing stories and photojournalism. Next, Warren said, the class will work on profiles.
The student media policies were the first thing the class put together, he said.
Board President Mark Wise said he read through all the policies and it looks like students will put together the final copy. He asked students if they were going to take responsibility for publishing the stories. Since the students are under age, Wise wanted to know how the school is “held harmless” should someone be libeled in a story.
“We always worry about the things kids will do that gets us in trouble,” Rod Eaton, board vice president, said.
Mason said they’ve done their research and talked to experts from the Indiana High School Press Association and the Indiana Press Law Center. She said there’s no precedent in Indiana of someone suing a student or school. Where schools run into legal questions is when school officials assume the responsibility of editing over students.
Though there’s no 100-percent correct answer, she said, the best they can do is train students to do the best they can to avoid libeling someone. The best situation is to have the standing expectation that students given the responsibility will take it to the next level, she said.
“If we approve this next month, we don’t want you to test this,” Wise told the students.
“We don’t want to test it,” Warren answered.
Students in ninth through 12th grade can take the newspaper class up to four years as an elective. Newspaper is separate from yearbook, though Mason said some of her students overlap.
Superintendent Brett Boggs told the newspaper students to let him and the board know when it was publishing online.
Mason said the process is going slower than she expected. However, once the newspaper template is up, students can begin publishing their news briefs. Hopefully, she said, the first edition will be up by February.
After further questions from the board, Boggs told the students he was excited about it and what it means for the high school. It will be able to keep alumni up to date on what’s going on at Valley, he said.
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During the Tippecanoe Valley School Board meeting Monday night, journalism teacher and newspaper adviser Melanie Mason, along with some of her newspaper students, presented student media policies and what they’ve studied and learned.
The board will be asked to approve the student media policies at its Jan. 14 meeting. By mid-January to February, the first edition of the student newspaper is expected to be published online.
The student media policies include a mission statement, and cover editorial policy, the adviser, school board, unprotected speech, letters, online comments, anonymity, obituaries, sensitive issues, advertising, student discipline and code of conduct.
The name of the TVHS student newspaper is “The Runic Review.”
Student Josh Warren said the class has been spending the whole semester learning how to be reporters and how to be ethical reporters. The first two months were nothing but law and ethics. Some of the main things the class discussed, Warren said, were the seven deadly sins of journalism, which include burning a source, conflicts of interest and plagiarism.
Students also learned basic reporting skills, he said. They are up to reporting one brief a week, but are working on writing stories and photojournalism. Next, Warren said, the class will work on profiles.
The student media policies were the first thing the class put together, he said.
Board President Mark Wise said he read through all the policies and it looks like students will put together the final copy. He asked students if they were going to take responsibility for publishing the stories. Since the students are under age, Wise wanted to know how the school is “held harmless” should someone be libeled in a story.
“We always worry about the things kids will do that gets us in trouble,” Rod Eaton, board vice president, said.
Mason said they’ve done their research and talked to experts from the Indiana High School Press Association and the Indiana Press Law Center. She said there’s no precedent in Indiana of someone suing a student or school. Where schools run into legal questions is when school officials assume the responsibility of editing over students.
Though there’s no 100-percent correct answer, she said, the best they can do is train students to do the best they can to avoid libeling someone. The best situation is to have the standing expectation that students given the responsibility will take it to the next level, she said.
“If we approve this next month, we don’t want you to test this,” Wise told the students.
“We don’t want to test it,” Warren answered.
Students in ninth through 12th grade can take the newspaper class up to four years as an elective. Newspaper is separate from yearbook, though Mason said some of her students overlap.
Superintendent Brett Boggs told the newspaper students to let him and the board know when it was publishing online.
Mason said the process is going slower than she expected. However, once the newspaper template is up, students can begin publishing their news briefs. Hopefully, she said, the first edition will be up by February.
After further questions from the board, Boggs told the students he was excited about it and what it means for the high school. It will be able to keep alumni up to date on what’s going on at Valley, he said.
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